"This win ends a losing streak which is important," McCarty
said. "Everyone contributed tonight and played good defense,
They had a chance there in the fourth but they couldn't finish."

Knight, Billups and Ron Mercer combined to make 6-of-6 free
throws in the final 20 seconds. Mercer, also a rookie, finished
with 12 points.

Ray Allen scored 23 points and Terrell Brandon added 17 for
Milwaukee, which has alternated wins and losses in its last
eight games. Armon Gilliam came off the bench to score 15
points and Tyrone Hill had 11 and 16 rebounds for the Bucks.

After taking an inbounds pass with 9.4 seconds remaining, Allen
had a chance to tie the game, but his three-pointer from the top
of the key was off to the left. Mercer was fouled after
grabbing the rebound and made two free throws for the final
margin with 1.3 seconds remaining.

Milwaukee's Glenn Robinson, who entered the game averaging a
team-high 20.7 points, was ejected just 2:06 into the second
quarter. Robinson was upset when McCarty guarded him closely as
he was going to take the ball out of bounds after a Boston
basket. He pushed McCarty and received two technical fouls
after arguing.

"This is a tough loss," said Gilliam. "I think there were some
questionable calls and with the `Big Dog' being ejected that
loses us points. We might have pulled ahead at the end with him
but that doesn't matter because he wasn't in there and we lost.
We can't afford to lose to many games with the division
(Central) we play in."

"It was tough for them that Robinson got ejected because it was
still early and you never know what could have happened,"
McCarty said.

Allen made a layup to cap a 23-7 run and pull the Bucks within
84-80 with 4:29 remaining. Milwaukee had a chance to close
within a point, but Gilliam was called for an offensive foul.

Mercer hit a jumper to give the Celtics an 86-80 lead with 3:36
to go. Hill made one free throw with 3:17 left and Gilliam had
a dunk 27 seconds later to cut Boston's lead to 86-83.

After Walker and Brandon traded baskets, Hill had a lay-in off
his own miss to pull Milwaukee within 88-87 with 67 seconds
remaining. Knight had a tip-in off a miss by Walker with 45
seconds to go for a 90-87 lead but Brandon sank two free throws
three seconds later.

"This was a big game for us tonight," Walker said. "It gives us
confidence beating a good team like Milwaukee. It also snaps
our losing streak. It's important for us to get off to good
starts. When we get off to good starts we're a tough team to
beat. Billups played a great game for us. He's a scoring point
guard and he did that tonight. That's why we picked him early."

Billups made another pair of free throws with 19 seconds
remaining and Hill's lay-in accounted for Milwaukee's final
points with 12.5 seconds left. Knight made two free throws for
a 94-91 lead with 9.7 seconds to go.

McCarty had 11 points and Walker 10 in the first half as the
Celtics held a 48-39 advantage at the break. Boston maintained
the lead througout the third quarter and took its biggest lead
at 77-55 with 55 seconds to go.

After shooting 47 percent (30-for-64) from the field in the
first three periods, Boston made just 5-of-19 (26 percent) shots
in the final period.